Climate change

Temperature differences for the Pliocene, as compared to the present day. Modelled average temperatures for the Pliocene show that the temperatures at the Poles may have been 15 degrees higher than today's.
(Image: PRISM)

Carbon capture and
storage (CCS) from coal-fired power stations is one of the ways that Britain and the world can maintain electricity supplies and economic growth while not changing the atmosphere and the climate.

A changing climate has been the norm throughout the 4.6-billion-year history of the Earth.

Over the recent geological past, climate swings have given us repeated glaciations separated by warmer intervals.

Our climate is intimately connected to the evolution of life, to the erosion and formation of rocks, and even to the generation of mountains. And all of these things are equally responsible for the evolution of climate!

The carbon cycle

At the heart of these connections is the transfer of carbon from one place or ‘reservoir’ to another, a process known as the carbon cycle. Learn more about this in the carbon story.

Carbon combines with oxygen in the atmosphere to form carbon dioxide (CO2).

The geological record (past
climate evidence) shows how CO2 varies over the life spans of glaciations, but modern measurements of atmospheric CO2 show that levels are higher than they have been for at least three million years.